"The critical point of behavior control,
in effect, is sneaking up on mankind without his self-conscious realization
that a crisis is at hand. Man will... never self-consciously know that
it has happened."[1](See the NEA)

By age ten, Jacqui K. was fascinated with anything supernatural.
Since her parents set no limits, she read every fiction and fantasy book
she could find on the magical world she craved.
In her imagination, she met wizards and witches, power and excitement.

"I
continued reading Harry Potter-type books through grade school, high schooland into college," she says. "Three to five a week! The older I got,
the easier they were to find. The whole time I considered myself
a Christian! If someone had pointed out to me what I was doing, I would have
laughed. I was a normal teenager and a leader in my church group."

The mystical characters
in her fantasy world filled her thoughts during the day and her dreams at night.
But when some of them began talking to her, she recognized the power she had
pursued:

"I
cried out to God to help me, and He did. The voices stopped. I was no Bible
scholar, but I recognized that they were from Satan. Some people said that
I became delusional because I couldn't separate fantasy from reality. They
were wrong. The problem was that I COULD, and had no idea that reading fiction
could put me in contact with REAL evil.

"Thirty years ago,
I had to search for those kinds of books, but now they're everywhere. The
fantasies I craved then were extreme, but now the child who stays away from
occult books is the exception. I fear that what happened to me is happening
to more and more Christian children. I can speak with authority on the dangers
of straying into territory that God forbids."[2]

Jacqui discovered what
most teenagers deny: Popular fiction communicates images and suggestions that
take root in the reader's mind and imagination. The more gifted the author,
the more seductive the suggestions. J. K. Rowling, a master at her craft, inspires
children to read her books again and again. Each mental immersion into Harry's
exciting world strengthens the reader's identification with its characters.
To many, this imagined world of occult empowerment soon feels as familiar
as the real world -- yet far more thrilling.[3]

It doesn't matter.
Adults and children alike absorb values through the subtle suggestions hidden
in entertainment. Our minds are more receptive than we think. And the more we
like it, the more it affects us. Popular fantasy, with its boundless thrills
and stirring images, can manipulate feelings and perceptions far more effectively
than can ordinary reality. As Harvard Professor
Chris Dede, a global leader the development of education technology programs,
writes, "Sensory immersion helps learners grasp reality through illusion."[4]

The enticing
illusion, designed to match "felt needs," brings subtle suggestions that take
root in today's "open" minds and fertile imagination with little conscious resistance.
Adults --especially when minds are not grounded in truth and fact -- are vulnerable
as well. This process helps explain why political "spin control" and repetitive
slogans find amazing public acceptance. With each repetition, the deception
becomes more believable.[5]

We have all experienced
the power of suggestion. We hear a familiar melody and a special relationship
comes to mind. We see a cross and thank our Lord. We see a hamburger ad and
our mouth waters.

This same power feeds
the multi-billion-dollar pornography business. Tempting suggestions entice susceptible
customers through uninvited emails. Few of those who succumb to the increasingly
addictive suggestions would deny the link between pornographic images and their
own physical and emotional responses.

This power clarifies false memories. Years ago, Roseanne Barr Arnold told
a shocked world that she "remembered" being sexually abused by her parents as
a child. The article,
Childhood Memories? Or the Power of Suggestion?
explains that "seemingly long-buried memories can be pure fantasy or distortions....
False memories can, and often are, planted through mere tone of voice or the
phrasing of a question. ...there is much evidence to suggest that 'memories'
are false ones, implanted by therapists through the power of suggestion and
then uncritically accepted by them as evidence of truth."[6]

Aldous Huxley understood
this power over seventy years ago. Brave New World summarized his plan
for mental manipulation and behavioral control:

"The love of servitude
cannot be established except as the result of a deep, personal revolution
in human minds and bodies. To bring about that revolution we require, among
others... a greatly improved technique of suggestion through infant
conditioning...."

"...Till at last
the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is
the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too--all
his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides--made up of
these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions!"[7]

Ms Rowling's message
fits Huxley's vision and today's global agenda. It mocks traditional values
and idealizes paganism. No wonder Scholastic, a major publisher of classroom
fiction promoting pagan empowerment, won the right to publish the series in
America. Nor is it any wonder Warner owns the movie rights. Rowling's storytelling
fuels their race toward a post-Christian, neo-pagan world.

Rowling's books, whether she realizes it or not,
embody some well-used steps to social change. Like Huxley's conditioning exercises
which linked the cloned babies' delight in colorful books to terrifying electric
shocks,[8] her steps link positive images to an
idealized form of paganism and negative images to traditional values.
Her
suggestions include:

1. A vision of a better world: link main
characters to pagan practices.

4. A pagan alternative to Christian values:
link courage and loyalty to a common quest for occult empowerment.

5. Mystical experiences that excite the emotions:
link "good" spells to victory in the timeless battle between good and evil.

God's Word shows us how to guard against deception.
First, avoid occult suggestions when possible. "Have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness...." (Eph. 5:11)

Second, be alert to every deception. "Beware
lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the
tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world...."(Col 2:8)

Third, resist
deception by remembering and affirming God's Word. As He showed Jacqui, we are
fighting against "REAL evil" forces, "not flesh and blood."(Eph 6:12)"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us," when we trust and follow Him.

5. Edgar A. Fouche, CEO FMA, "Behavior Modification
While Using Computer." Mr. Fouche defines "Evocation" as "Evoking behavior
changes through the power of the memory or imagination stimulated by the
repetition of numerous subliminal affirmations." On 28 January 2000,
this article was posted at <http://www.educationnews.org>.